During a medical intubation procedure, a tube is inserted into an orifice or hollow organ such as the larynx to allow for the administration of gases or to admit air. Unfortunately, the procedure sometimes goes amiss, and the tube is inserted into the wrong orifice (e.g. into the digestive rather than the respiratory tract).
Although illuminated laryngoscopes which might help to alleviate this situation are available (see, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,854 to Scrivo et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,527 to Musicant et al., U.S. Pat. No. Des. 297,363 to Salerno et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,855 to Salerno et al.), the amount of illumination is somewhat inherently limited by the length of the laryngoscope blade.
It would be an improvement in the art if a device were available for safely illuminating an intubation procedure, especially in the lower part of the pharynx.